Magnetic toy



March 31, 1953 DONOVAN 2,532,976

MAGNETIC TOY Filed Sept. 3, 1948 INVENTOR: 3 Delbert Donovan,

E- BYK/M ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 31, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MAGNETIC TOY Delbert Donovan, Detroit, Mich.

Application September 3, 1948, Serial No. 47,640

6 Claims. (CI. 46-45) My improvement pertains to a magnetic toy in which two magnets are arranged in a novel formation and are capable of demonstrating their magnetic qualities in a novel manner.

The object of my improvement is to provide a toy to stimulate interest of children in magnetic phenomena.

I shall describe my toy with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the assembled p;

Fig. 2 is a top elevational View of my toy;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the toy on line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of an element of my toy with a diagrammatic'al presentation of one end of a looped magnet as used in my toy, with respect to'One end of a magnet bar.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatical presentation of the main operative elements of the toy;

Fig. 6 is a modified species of a looped magnet as used in my toy.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts in the several views.

The toy includes a base I0 made of any suitable non-magnetic material, such as wood or plastic. Located centrally on the base, is a standard II, also made of a non-magnetic material and including at the top an axially disposed pin I2 which is preferably made of metal. Supported upon the pin is my magnet best. illustrated in Figure 4. It is made up of two individual magnets I3 and I4, each being made of wire, or generally of an attenuated strip of'metal, in the shape of a hairpin, the ends of one meeting the ends of the other, so as to form a closed unit. It will be understood that the poles of one magnet are joined to the opposite poles of the other magnet. In other words, the north pole of the top magnet I3 is joined to the south pole of magnet I4, and the south pole of magnet I3 is joined to the north pole of magnet I4, as best shown in Fig. 4.

The two magnets I3 and I4 are joined by means of short sleeves I5, made of a plastic or other non-magnetic material, the ends of the magnets fitting into the open ends of the respective sleeves. Once the ends of the magnet have been connected to form a closed unit, said unit is bent into an S-shaped formation. This includes a substantially horizontally disposed loop I6 at the top, said loop being open at one side at H, and a similar loop I8 at the bottom. The last named loop has also an open side at I9, this being diametrically opposed to opening II. The two loops are joined by arms 20 extending diagonally from the upper to the lower p and running parallel to each other. The bottom loop is afiixed to the top surface of a flat strip 2I which is mounted on a disc 22, and is provided on its underside with a depression 23 to fit over the tip of a pin I2. Seated upon the body of the magnet and serving for the purpose of lowering the center of gravity of the whole ensemble below the end of the tip of pin I2, is a light cover 24, made of non-magnetic material such as paper or the like, in the shape of a truncated cone open at the top and bottom, said cover being of double wall construction, wherein, the inner wall is marked by numeral 25. Projecting from between said walls 24 and 25 downwardly, is a plurality of balancing rods 26. These are disposed radially with respect to standard II, and are set at an angle thereto, to approximate the position of ribs in a half open umbrella.

When mounted on the pin by means of strip 2 I, the magnet is capable of spinning freely about the axis of said pin. The spinning movement may be imparted to the magnet by means of a magnetized bar 21 held in the hand, this being a feature which appears to be novel and interestmg.

Assuming that the S-shaped magnet, or S magnet as I shall call it, is mounted on pin I2, and is in a state of rest, all that is needed to be done to cause it to spin, is for the operator to manually place one pole of the magnetized bar 21 within loop It.

For the sake of explanation of the behavior of the S magnet, I shall refer to Fig. 5, showing loop I 6 of magnet I3. I wish to suggest that the body of said loop I6 includes a portion which is but a continuation of the north pole of magnet I 3, and a portion which is but a continuation of the south pole thereof. A horizontal line 0-0 drawn through the imaginary center of the axis of the loop divides it into what may be broadly termed, north and south poles.

Assuming that the north pole of a magnetized bar is brought into the loop I6 as shown in Fig. 5, the north pole of the bar and the north pole of the loop would be repelled from each other, this being suflicient to impart to the loop a thrust to set the s magnet rotating with the supporting strip 2| on pin I2. If the magnetized bar is re versed and the opposite pole thereof is placed withinthe loop, the S magnet will reverse the direction of its rotation.

Irrespective of the theory of its action, the

magnetic toy as made by me includes certain novel features both in shape and in operation. However, it will be understood that some changes may be made in the construction of my toy without departing from the inventive principle disclosed herein. It is, for instance, possible to make my S-shaped magnet out of one horse-shoe or one hair-pin shaped magnet alone. All that would be necessary, would be to connect its poles and bend the unit into an S-shaped formation as above described, even though two magnets connected in the manner shown by me, seem to act better.

What I wish to claim is as follows:

1. A toy of the kind described, comprising an upright standard of non-magnetic material, a horizontal strip mounted for rotation thereon, a magnet mounted on the strip, the magnet being made of one length of wire closed upon itself, and bent into an S-shaped formation including a broad substantially horizontally disposed loop at the top, and a similar loop at the bottom, and a cover mounted upon the magnet, the cover being open at the top and bottom and being provided with balancing rods extending from the cover downwardly below the level of the strip to lower the center of gravity of the combined magnet and cover.

2. A toy of the kind described comprisin an upright standard of non-magnetic material terminating with an upright pin, a fiat horizontal member mounted on the tip of the pin for rotation thereon, a magnet mounted on the flat member and afiixed thereto, the magnet being made of two hair-pin magnets joined at the poles into a closed unit, the unit as a whole being bent into an S-shaped formation including a substantially horizontally disposed loop at the top, and a substantially horizontally disposed loop at the bottom, of said S-formation, the loops being alined axially, and a non-magnetic cover seated on the magnet, the cover having the shape of a truncated cone open at the top to expose the loop and having balancing rods extending downwardly to lower the center of gravity of the combined magnet and the cover, below the level of the flat horizontal member.

3. A toy of the kind described including a stationary support having an upright pin, a member mounted on the pin for rotation thereon, in a horizontal plane, a magnet mounted on said member, the magnet being made of elongated magnetic metal closed upon itself and bent into an S-shaped formation including two broad loops, one at the bottom of the formation to serve as a base portion thereof, and one at the top, both 4 loops being disposed substantially horizontally and being connected by parallel arms extending diagonally from one loop to the other, a nonmagnetic oover seated on the magnet and having an open top for access to the upper loop, and a plurality of rods extending downwardly from the cover below the level of the member mounted on the pin.

4. A toy of the kind described including a stationary support having an upright pin, a member mounted on the pin for rotation thereon, a magnet mounted on said member, the magnet being made of two individual magnets made of wire each in the shape of a hair pin, the two magnets being joined at the poles into a closed unit, the

. respective pole of one magnet meeting the respective opposite poles of the other magnet, the unit being bent into an S-shaped formation including a broad substantially horizontally disposed loop at the top, and a similar loop at the bottom, and a cover of non-magnetic material seated on the magnet, the cover being open at the top and bottom and being provided with balancing rods extending from the cover down- Wardly below the level of the strip to lower the center of gravity of the combined magnet and cover.

5. A magnet made of attenuated metal closed upon itself into an endless unit and bent into an S-shaped formation, and including a broad loop at one end the loop being disposed in one plane and a similar broad loop at the other end, the last-named loop being disposed in another plane parallel to the plane first mentioned.

6. A magnet made of two individual magnets of the horseshoe type, the poles of one meeting the opposite poles of the other to form an enclosed endless unit, said magnet including sleeve means to hold each pair of the opposed ends in place, the unit being bent into an S-shaped formation in which the closed end of one individual magnet, forms a loop in one plane, and the closed end of the other individual magnet, forms a loop disposed parallel to the first-named plane in a spaced relation thereto.

DELBERT DONOVAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,481,256 Dols Jan. 22, 1924 2,109,953 Bates Mar. 1, 1938 

